The Mista’arvim

The Mista’arvim are elite Israeli undercover units whose operatives disguise themselves as Arabs to gather intelligence, infiltrate protests, rescue hostages, and engage in counterterrorism operations. Mista’arvim is a Hebrew word derived from the Arabic musta’ribeen (singular: musta’rib), which means those who “disguise themselves as Arabs,” initially describing non-Muslims who adopted Arab culture following the Islamic conquest. 

In the 1940s, the term was adopted by the Palmach, a Zionist paramilitary group that later became the core of the Israeli army. The term was used to describe its unit comprised of Jews who grew up in Arab contexts and were trained to conduct espionage missions. The first Mista’arvim unit, known as the “Arab Department” (Ha-Machlaka Ha-Aravit), was established in 1942 as a unit of the Palmach. The unit was founded when the Jewish establishment cooperated with the British mandate authorities in Palestine during World War II. The British needed intelligence agents to infiltrate the local population in the Levant and impede German plans in the region.

With Germany’s defeat, the British no longer needed the platoon, eventually leading to its disbandment. The platoon was soon relaunched as an independent unit of the Palmach called Ha-Shahar (dawn), with its main objective to penetrate Palestinian communities for espionage and sabotage purposes. Following the establishment of Israel in 1948, the term Mista’arvim was used to describe undercover units comprised of Jewish fighters required to pass as Arabs to execute various undercover missions, such as arrests, assassinations, and intelligence gathering. These units initially comprised Arabic-speaking Mizrahi Jews (Jews from the Middle East and North Africa). Still, later units included both Arabic-speaking Mizrahi Jews and Jews who studied Arabic before or during their military training.

Former Israeli special forces member Elon Perry said, “Mista’arvim must have courage, patience, alertness, self-confidence, and charisma.”

In 1986, Ehud Barak created a more sophisticated and better-organized mista’arvim force called Duvdevan (Hebrew for cherry). Established in 1986, shortly before the outbreak of the First Intifada in 1987, Duvdevan’s primary goal was to identify, locate, capture, or kill terrorists. The recruits, who often include Druze and Bedouin, are comfortable with Arabic culture, language, and customs. They look, talk, and dress like Arabs. The unit’s operational scope grew after the Oslo Accords when it entered populated Palestinian areas to detain terrorists and conduct reconnaissance. It continued to operate in the West Bank after the outbreak of the Second Intifada.

In addition to Sayeret Duvdevan (Unit 217), other mista’arvim include Samson (Unit 367), which operated south near the Gaza border. Established in 1988 to conduct undercover operations in the Gaza Strip, the unit was dissolved in 1994, and its combatants were integrated into Duvdevan; Yamas, a unit associated with the Israeli border police and operating mainly in Jerusalem. Established in 1991 to capture and detain suspects, disguising themselves en route to the suspect. They wear police baseball caps during operations to be identifiable to other IDF soldiers in the area; and Gideonim (Unit 33), a force of the Israeli police that works inside Israel.

Due to their classified nature, little information is publicly available regarding these units’ modus operandi and activities.

Sources: “Mista’arvim,” Wikipedia.
Rosenzweig Ido, “Combatants Dressed as Civilians The Case of the Israeli Mista’arvim under International Law,” Israel Democracy Institute, (2014). 
Emad Moussa, “The Mista’arvim: Israel’s notorious undercover agents,” The New Arab, (April 18, 2022).
Elon Perry, Golani Commando, (NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2022).
Mendel, Y., & Karkabi, N. (2023). The Re-Enchantment of the Orient: Mista‘arvim and Their Special Status in Jewish-Israeli Society. The Middle East Journal, 77(2), 161-180.